Agaat (2010)
Agaat
“It smells of Milton. Over the fume of disinfectant I detect the fragrance of lavender. Agaat knows Milton sets my teeth on edge. But she persists with it. She says she prefers it to Dettol. Dettol is for hospitals and for childbirth.
Sometimes she adds lavender to the Milton water, or fennel, to make it more pleasant for me, at other times mint, or lemon verbena. She’s read up in our gardening books, she says, herbs are good for the blood, for the concentration, for the nerves. I get the messag...e. I must concentrate, I must have nerves of steel. And about my blood, I know, I mustn’t worry overmuch, she’ll pep that up for me with mint.
Agaat lifts one side of me. She manoeuvres a triple-folded bath towel in under me. Then she walks to the other side and tilts me and straightens the towels under me. All this she does with the strong left hand. With the right hand she steers and pulls and slips and folds. Like a conductor, with the one hand she beats time, with the other she signals the major entries, for percussion, for the trombone, and with that she gives the feeling, passionato, grazioso, every wash-time a concert.MoreLess
Sometimes she adds lavender to the Milton water, or fennel, to make it more pleasant for me, at other times mint, or lemon verbena. She’s read up in our gardening books, she says, herbs are good for the blood, for the concentration, for the nerves. I get the messag...e. I must concentrate, I must have nerves of steel. And about my blood, I know, I mustn’t worry overmuch, she’ll pep that up for me with mint.
Agaat lifts one side of me. She manoeuvres a triple-folded bath towel in under me. Then she walks to the other side and tilts me and straightens the towels under me. All this she does with the strong left hand. With the right hand she steers and pulls and slips and folds. Like a conductor, with the one hand she beats time, with the other she signals the major entries, for percussion, for the trombone, and with that she gives the feeling, passionato, grazioso, every wash-time a concert.MoreLess
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